The trials and terrors of starting a pole arts society at Kingston university

Photo: Frankie Cordoba via Unsplash

Written by Purnoor Fatima

Erica Song, a 20-year-old fine arts student, has started the university’s first ever pole dancing society, with the taster class taking place on 26 February 2026.

For almost two decades, students at the university have tried starting a pole society however, Song was the first one to succeed by finding a studio, organising a committee and financially contributing to the entire thing herself as the student union would not provide her with essential funding.

“All the other societies get a starting fund of £350 or £300 but we didn’t even get a starting fund from the university because we were a little late to make the society. So, we had to start from nothing,” Song said.

After discovering one pole studio within walking distance and easy access via public transport, Song got in touch with Sarah, the manager at The Pole Studio in Surbiton and negotiated both suitable prices and timetables for her society.

With prices ranging from £15 to £25 per class in London and The Pole Studio charging £19, Song managed to get the price down to £5 for Kingston university students who are members of the society as well as £10 for students who aren’t members.

“I wasn’t expecting that many people would be interested in it but all the tickets sell out every week. We might have to start doing two classes,” said Song when describing the unexpected success of a sport she believed would be unpopular at Kingston, “I mean, UCL and KCL even have varsity for their pole dancing but we didn’t and I wasn’t sure if it was because people here didn’t like it but clearly they do.”

The pole society’s taster session didn’t just attract Kingston students, but also 21-year-old Samuel Day from Winchester, who was visiting a friend in Surbiton and joined in on the class out of pure curiosity.

“The gym is nothing compared to whatever the hell happened in that class. I don’t know how some of them made it look so easy, especially the girls,” said Day, “It’s no joke. I think all guys should try this instead of lifting weights because that kind of strong is what I’m trying to be.”

Although modern day pole dancing is widely considered a feminine activity, the sport originates from India and is called ‘mallakhamb.’

Ivo Štrkljević mentions in his article ‘The History of pole dancing,’ that mallakhamb consists of two terms; ‘malla’ meaning wrestler and ‘khamb’ meaning pole, literally translating to “wrestler’s pole.”

Štrkljević also states that evidence of the sport’s existence can be found in “Chandrakeugarh pottery,” which dates back to the 2^nd century BCE – 1^st century CE.

Different variations of mallakhamb such as pole mallakhamb exist and is majorly practiced by men whereas rope mallakhamb is practiced more by women.

Song went on to state that both the sport and society are for anyone regardless of gender and physicality: “Most of the class had no prior experience, you grow strength and flexibility whilst learning it and strength is strength, no matter what gender you are.”

Kingston’s pole dancing society hosts weekly classes every Thursday from 6pm to 7pm at The Pole Studio, 1 Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, KT7 0SY.